Final Offer (Dreamland Billionaires, #3)(66)

“There is a child here!” I whisper-shout.

“Relax. I’m just joking with you.” He reaches for the towel and covers his upper body until he resembles a mummy. “All better?” He looks ridiculous with the way his wet hair flops in front of his face.

“Not even remotely.” I throw a damp hand towel over his face. “There. All better.”

He pulls it off with a laugh. “Sorry about that. I forgot about Cami staying here.”

“Oh, so if it’s just me, then it’s okay to walk around in only a towel?”

“If it were just you, I’d lose the towel altogether.” He winks.

My mouth waters at the image of him doing just that.

“You’d like that, wouldn’t you?” His husky voice makes my belly heat.

“No.” I notice my nose twitching too late.

He runs his finger down the slope, eliciting a pleasant shiver. “Are you sure?” His hands reach for the edge of the towel.

My heart thumps harder against my chest, making it impossible to hear as he begins to undo the towel.

“No!” I slap my hands against his waist to stop him, only to brush against his cock in the process.

I blink. He grins.

My pinkie reaches out to tease his length just to confirm what I felt. He shivers, the tiny exhale he releases making me press my legs together.

“Unless you plan on finishing what you started, I wouldn’t do that again.” He pushes my hand away.

All five of my fingers itch to wrap themselves around his length. It hurts me to deny the instinct, especially with how he looks at me.

“Keep staring at me like that and I might get the wrong idea.” He squeezes his cock through the towel with a smirk.

That fucker…

The pulsing between my legs has nothing to do with needing to use the bathroom. “For the record, you’re a terrible friend. No wonder Declan doesn’t like you hanging around his wife.” I shove him out of the bathroom and lock the door before I do something stupid like kiss the smile off his face.





I give up on trying to blindly plug in my cellphone charger into the outlet behind my bed. It’s impossible to reach without getting on my hands and knees, so I kneel and use the flashlight on my cellphone to light up the dark space underneath.

A loud hiss makes me fall back on my ass and release a blood-curdling scream straight out of a movie. Quick, heavy footsteps running down the hall match the erratic beat of my heart. My door swings open before the knob slams into the wall.

“What’s wrong?” Cal looks around the room with wild eyes while clutching onto a lamp.

I press a hand against my chest, willing my heart to calm down. “What kind of weapon is that?”

His cheeks turn a light shade of pink. “It was the first thing within grabbing distance.”

He thought you were in danger, so he didn’t want to waste any time.

My throat swells, stealing my ability to speak.

Cami barrels into the room, her small hands raised in a fighting stance she learned in karate. “I’ll save you!” She slices her hands through the air and spin kicks. Her feet slide across the carpet, her arms flailing as she loses her balance.

Cal ditches the lamp to catch her right before she crashes against the floor. He lifts her into the air, making her giggle.

My heart thuds against my chest in betrayal. It’s impossible not to have some sort of reaction as Cal throws her in the air again, earning another loud laugh before placing her back on her feet.

Cal looks up at me, catching me staring at him and Cami’s interaction. “What happened?”

I point a shaky finger at the dark space under the bed. “There is something underneath the bed.”

“What?”

“I don’t know. It’s not like I got a good look before it hissed at me.”

“Oh, that’s Merlin.” Cal’s eyes sparkle as he offers me his hand. I’m a little wobbly on my feet, mainly due to the way Cal scans my body for any injuries.

I look away first. “That thing is your cat?”

Cami gasps. “You have a cat?”

He nods, and Cami instantly abandons us for the bed.

“Cami, no! He’s not nice.” I swoop and pull her back.

Cal shakes his head. “That’s not true. Merlin might sound scary, but he’s harmless. I swear. He doesn’t even have claws because his last owner was an abusive jerk, so you don’t have to worry about him hurting anyone. The worst thing he does is shed, but I have a robot vacuum for that.”

My heart aches. “He was declawed?”

“Yes, and that isn’t even the worst of it.”

Good God. My weakness for strays is starting to show itself at the worst time.

“Can I pet him? Please?” Cami looks up at me while batting her lashes.

I look to Cal for approval.

“It’s fine with me.”

I sigh with resignation. “All right.” I can just tell with the way Cami’s eyes light up, she is going to be attached to Merlin by the end of the night.

Cami army crawls toward the bed while cooing and calling Merlin’s name. He doesn’t come out, which makes her frown.

“He doesn’t like me.”

Cal shakes his head with a smile and kneels beside her.